2018-19 NAHL Season
This is the 2018-19 North American Hockey League season. This is the league's 34th season under this name and its 43rd dating back to its founding as the Great Lakes Junior Hockey League in 1975 when the Michigan Junior Hockey League and the Wolverine Junior A Hockey League merged. Membership Changes *On April 12, 2018 the league announced an expansion team that will begin play with the 2018-19 season to be based out of the Piney Orchard Ice Arena in Odenton, Maryland, which is a suburb of Baltimore. The arena had been previously a practice facility for the Washington Capitals of the National Hockey League. On May 9, 2018 it was announce the team will be known as the Maryland Black Bears. http://nahl.com/news/story.cfm?id=24065 *On April 30, 2018 the league announced that the Coulee Region Chill were sold and would be relocated about 90 miles (145km) north to Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin playing out of the Chippewa Area Ice Arena. The team is being renamed to the Chippewa Steel. In a related move the La Crosse Freeze of the North American 3 Hockey League will have their membership transferred to nearby Onalaska, Wisconsin and would become the Coulee Region Chill to replace the NAHL team in that city.http://nahl.com/news/story.cfm?id=24017 *On June 13, 2018 the Philadelphia Rebels announced the team would be relocating to Jamestown, New York for the 2018-19 season.http://nahl.com/news/story.cfm?id=24195 *The Wichita Falls Wildcats who were on leave of absence for the 2017-18 season folded. *On June 3, 2019 the league's Board of Governors announced approval of the relocation of the Brookings Blizzard to St. Cloud, Minnesota for the 2019-20 season. The team will be renamed the St. Cloud Blizzard and will be based out of the St. Cloud Municipal Athletic Complex. Teams Standings Central Division Midwest Division East Division South Division Robertson Cup Playoffs Format The top four teams in each division qualify for the playoffs. The division semifinals and division finals are best-of-five. The four division winning teams advance to the Robertson Cup and will be seeded 1-4 based on regular season standings and paired off 1 vs 4 and 2 vs 3 in best of three semifinal series with the two series winners meeting in a single game championship. The semifinals and championship game is held at the Fogerty Arena in Blaine, MN. Central Division Semifinals *Aberdeen Wings defeated Austin Bruins 3 games to 1 *Minot Minotauros defeated Bismarck Bobcats 3 games to none East Division Semifinals *Johnstown Tomahawks defeated Northeast Generals 3 games to 2 *New Jersey Titans defeated Jamestown Rebels 3 games to 2 Midwest Division Semifinals *Fairbanks Ice Dogs defeated Janesville Jets 3 games to none *Minnesota Magicians defeated Springfield Jr. Blues 3 games to 1 South Division Semifinals *Amarillo Bulls defeated Corpus Christi IceRays 3 games to 2 *Shreveport Mudbugs defeated Lone Star Brahmas 3 games to 2 Central Division Final *Aberdeen Wings defeated Minot Minotauros 3 games to 1 East Division Final *Johnstown Tomahawks defeated New Jersey Titans 3 games to 2 Midwest Division Final *Fairbanks Ice Dogs defeated Minnesota Magicians 3 games to none South Division Final *Amarillo Bulls defeated Shreveport Mudbugs 3 games to 2 Robertson Cup Format The four divisional playoff champions will advance to the Robertson Cup Championship. Clubs will be seeded 1-4 based upon their finish in the NAHL regular-season standings. If necessary, the tie-breaking policy adopted in the NAHL Rules and Regulations will be applied to determine the final seeding. The game schedule will be as follows: The #1 Seed will face the #4 seed in a best of three series. The #2 seed will face the #3 seed in a best of three series. The two series winners will advance on to a one-game playoff to determine the Robertson Cup Champion. The event will begin on Friday, May 10th and conclude on Monday, May 13th. Robertson Cup Semifinals *Fairbanks Ice Dogs defeated Johnstown Tomahawks 2 games to 1 *Aberdeen Wings defeated Amarillo Bulls 2 games to 1 Robertson Cup Final *Aberdeen Wings defeated Fairbanks Ice Dogs 2-1 References Category:2019 in hockey Category:NAHL seasons